Lorenzo Pellegrini 's early penalty was enough to give Roma victory at Sampdoria , bottom of Serie A.

In the seventh minute, a VAR decision was made long after Tammy Abraham's pass hit Alex Ferrari 's hand, when the defender was about to pull his arm.

There were few chances after that as Roma were happy to let Sampdoria have most of the ball, fully convinced they lacked the quality that would make them dangerous.

Substitute Nicolo Zapiolo was the closest player to score, after a fine run, he shot wide of the post and netted the ball in stoppage time to rule out offside. The result left Sampdoria winless after ten games, while Roma moved up to fourth, four points behind leaders Napoli.

Best player of the game

Speaking of the best player of the game, it will be defender Chris Smalling from Roma.

He was heavily backed by Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibáñez , but Smalling deftly organised Roma's defence and never looked like he was really breaking through. Whether his form will allow him to return to international football remains to be seen.